A Slight Fondness
by KagomeMiroku
Summary: Ophelia Snape doesn't believe in love, because of her parent's being her only example.  What happens when she catches the eye of Sirius Black?  Well, her older brother isn't too happy about these, even if she's says it's only a slight fondness.
1. Chapter 1

Sighing, I sat crossed leg on the wearing sofa and hugged a pillow to my chest. Sev was upstairs, ignoring it as he always did, and I was sitting right in the middle of it all, watching them go back and forth at each other as though I didn't even exist. That's how it always was though. When the two of them were at it, suddenly their children were no longer alive, and it was just the two of them and their vicious arguing.

It hurt, watching them over and over again, but I couldn't help but not leave. I sat and watched every argument they've had since I was born, and I hated every minute of it. And yet, still, I found it fascinating. Fascinating in a sense that people who loved each other enough to have two children could go from all of that love to all of this hatred in a matter of minutes, hours, days, months, years. And the fighting did drag on for years.

I rested my chin on the heel of my hand and watched. He yelled, she yelled, then back to him. It was a pattern. One word, long paragraphs, fragments, a sentence. They followed the same format of fighting every time, and I couldn't help but wonder if they rehearsed before they put on a show. They had to, somewhere, know I sat and watched them over countless arguments, they had to know the affect it had on both Sev and I. It wasn't like that would stop them though.

With one final, dramatic sentence, daddy was out the door and mummy fell into a plush chair and sobbed. I stood and padded over to her chair, taking a seat on the arm and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, mummy," I whispered, just as I always did when the fighting stopped. "I still love you."

Of course, I wasn't sure if I did love her or not. Her, daddy, or Sev to be honest. I was very fond of each of them, but if they called what they had love, then I didn't very much wish to be apart of it. I didn't believe love, as most people defined it, existed. Fondness though was an entirely different story. I held a high fondness for each of my family members, even if they did do a lot to upset me.

Mum looked up at me, her eyes already red and puffed, her thin lips pulled down to a frown. She lifted a thin hand and pushed dark strands of hair from my face.

"Go upstairs now, Ophelia."

Nodding, I stood again and scurried up the steps to leave mum to do her crying alone. It was all very well if I watched her and daddy goign at each other's throats, but I wasn't allowed to see her cry for some reason. It wasn't as though I didn't know mums were allowed to cry. Everyone was allowed to cry, especially older brothers.

My fingers danced along the doorknob to Sev's bedroom, I twisted it open and walked in. He was sitting on his bed with his knees hugged to his chest, Hogwarts books scattered along the sheets. I moved over to the bed and took a seat after moving a few books out of the way. He didn't look at me, but I smiled all the same.

"Are you okay?"

It was a silly question, I knew he was upset. But it was still polite to ask.

"Fine."

Placing a hand on his knee as I would do to mum's shoulder, I tilted my head and smiled again. He still refused to look at me, and I saw a tear fall from his eye. I always hated to see Sev cry, more than mum (when she let me see her cry), and more than when I cried myself. I didn't do it often, but when Sev cried, I wanted to cry too.

"We should go visit Lily today." I suggested, knowing his best friend would be able to cheer him up better than I could. I envied Lily in a way, to how close she was with my brother, closer than I was to him. It wasn't that fair.

"It's late."

"Oh." So it was. I could be unobservant at times. "Tomorrow then."

He gave a sort of stiff nod, and I crawled to sit myself beside him, leaning my head on his shoulder. I smiled a little as he rested his head ontop of mine, even though he didn't talk. Sev wasn't the most talkative, but when you got him in a good conversation, he could go on for quite some time. I enjoyed having conversations with Sev, whether it be about happy subjects like Hogwarts and friends, or unpleasant subjects like mum and dad. He was a good older brother.

It was a shame we were in two different Houses. Sev was placed in Slytherin, while the sorting hat saw it fit to place me in Ravenclaw instead. I didn't mind too much though, I enjoyed being a Ravenclaw, and saw that Sev enjoyed being in Slytherin, even if Lily was a Gryffindor. I suppose it was wrong of me to secretly enjoy the fact that Sev and Lily were in separate Houses, there was a slight hope the two fueding Houses would break away their friendship.

For Sev's sake. And for Lily's too, I suppose. I overheard him telling himself in the mirror that he loved her one day. I didn't want what happened to mum and dad to ever happen to my Sev.

"I'm going to bed now." he spoke suddenly.

I only nodded and slid my legs off the side of the bed, turning to look over my shoulder at my brother, giving him a brief hug goodbye.

"Nigh, Sev."

I smiled and glided out the door and down the hall to my own, little bedroom. Ignoring my mum's muffled sobs from down the staircase, just as Sev tried to ignore their fighting. Only I could ignore better than he could. He tried to, but he still heard. I tried to, and succeeded.

Closing the door behind me, I walked to my dresser to pick out pajamas and ready myself for bed. I would try to sleep in for as long as I could the next morning, after all it was the final day of summer vacation.

oXo

The final day of summer vacation seemed to waste away. I spent most of the day inside, sleeping upside down beneath my paper thin comforter, having the most peculiar dreams about unicorns. I wondered into the forest at school my First Year and sat with them before, sitting before real live unicorns who saw me as no threat. I wasn't supposed to go in the forest though, and got in trouble for doing so. I don't see how playing with unicorns was such an awful thing to do, but I never did it again.

People were mad at me for losing points from our House. And Sev was mad at me because he said I could get hurt. I don't like it when Sev's mad.

When I finally walked down the steps, I found daddy sprawled out on the sofa, and mum sitting in the kitchen muttering to herself. I stretched, yawned, and walked in to pour myself a glass of morning milk. Everyone else went undisturbed, although I was a tad upset when I read Sev's note on the fridge.

He had gone to go see Lily without me.

I took a seat across from mum at the table, watching as she spoke to herself. She had been doing that a lot lately, but I didn't see it as too weird, she must be where I got it from. Although, I never looked so sad when I talked to myself, I took to believe it was daddy's fault she did it, why she looked so sad. She mad daddy look sad too, and both of them made Sev look sad. All three of them made me sad too then, and I didn't want to be sad on the final day of summer.

"I'm going for a walk." I said, placing my glass in the sink, but mum didn't seem to hear me.

I left to walk back up the steps, to brush my teeth and hair, and to change out of my pajamas and into more appropriate clothes to go out in. That wasn't saying much though, all of my clothes had something off with them. My shorts were a bit short, my tank top had two holes down both sides, and so I hard to wear one of daddy's button down, black and silver striped shirts over it. The shirt was long on the sleeves, but it made me smile to wear something of daddy's, and that he let me wear it; he didn't even mind that I tied it up front instead of buttoning it, so it didn't go down too long.

My sandals were down by the door, I slipped them on and walked out, greeting the bright summer day with a smile. It was already starting to get cold, September first was pushing passed August thirty-first fast. It wasn't fair to poor August.

Breaking into a slight skip, I hurried away from Spinner's End and into whatever direction I felt like. I had a feeling both Sev and Lily were over at the Evans household, but I didn't want to check if they weren't there. Lily's sister was mean. I didn't have much of a fondness for her. Petunia, I think her name was. It was cute that their names were both flowers.

Absently, I found my way to the playground and sat myself down on a swing. I hadn't even noticed that I was there, but I didn't mind. Subconsciously, I wanted to have one final swing before leaving to school the following day. I wanted to swing so much, it seemed, that I went well passed darkness.

"Ophelia!"

Blinking, my swing halted to a stop, and I looked around the lamp-lit playground, and saw two people hurrying towards me.

"Mummy?"

"No, Ophelia, what are you doing?"

Oh, it was Sev and Lily. I smiled in greeting to them.

"Swinging." I said with a smile. "Do you want to join me?"

Lily gave me a half-hearted smile, holding her hand out to me. Blinking, I took it, then smiled a little and held my arm out for Sev to link with. He shook his head, but did so.

"We're going home then?"

"We're going home."

I pouted, and looked over my shoulder at the swingset. Summer was officially over.

They told me about their day, happily remniscing about how fun it was, the ice cream they ate, thinking about what would happen when they returned to school, and then random things like Hogsmeade visits and their latests visits to Diagon Alley. Sev, Lily, and I all went the week before, so I was able to recount the event with them when they recounted it again.

We dropped Lily off, and she promised to see us at the station the next day. Sev and I started back on our way home, quietly at first, until Sev started up.

"Is father home?"

"He was when I left. He was asleep though." I said softly. "Whenever I see him he's either yelling or asleep."

"You see him more than I do." He paused for a moment. "Why do you watch them?"

I shrugged. "It's the only time I see them together." I said. "And... Well it's interesting."

"Interesting?" he snorted.

"Depressing." I added, nodding a little. "That people in love could hurt each other so much."

"They don't love each other anymore, Ophelia."

"They aren't fond of each other anymore." I corrected.

"Huh?"

"Love's not real, Sev."

He seemed to fall behind for a moment, so I slowed for him to catch up. Smiling, I held my hand out to him as we rounded the corner to Spinner's End. He was quiet for the rest of the walk home, and stayed downstairs while I went up to bed.

We had to awake early though. School was tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't feel anything short of fondness for the boys who tormented my brother. It seemed to be ritual for them to start of the school year "properly" and on the train to school. It was as though they'd seek out Sev purposefully just to make fun of him and torment him. They weren't funny, they were bullies.

James Potter and Sirius Black seemed to do most of the tormenting. Potter didn't like Sev, mainly because he liked Lily. Black seemed to follow along with it and torment Sev, just on account that he could. He wasn't nice at all. Peter Pettigrew followed them everywhere. He didn't do much, but he edged them on and cheered for them like one of those people Lily's sister was, a cheerleader.

I think I disliked Remus Lupin most of all. He didn't do anything to Sev, nor did he really edge on the other boys. He ignored it. Like how Sev tried to ignore mum and dad's arguements, or how I tried to irgnore mum's crying. He didn't do anything to prevent them from bullying my brother, and he was a Prefect. He had the power to stop the boys, and he was their friend so he should have lead them to goodness rather than meaness, but he didn't do anything about it.

And he thought it would be okay if he sat beside me in our compartment while Potter and Black picked on my brother.

Frowning, I watched Sev shoot back nasty remarks. He was angry. I didn't like when Sev was angry. He was really smart, and knew a lot of useful spells, he even invented a few of them of us own; so he told me. He normally thought of spells when he was angry, when he thought about Potter and his mates. His spells mustn't have been very nice ones.

Lily jumped into the arguement too, and I sat and watched, as I would do with one of mum and dad's arguements. But it wasn't like that at all. Their fighting was more hateful, more angry, while these fights were more childish- But still hurtful. All fighting tended to be hurtful, especially when fighting with such mean people.

Lupin seemed to glance over at me, sending me an apologetic look, but I glared in response. He didn't say anything to me, but he did look away, a look of shame gracing his features. I was glad he was ashamed. He had the authority to stop my brother from being harrassed, and yet he sat her beside me and continued to do nothing. It was hard to believe such a boy could be placed as Prefect.

"You're such gits!" Lily yelled, glaring at the the boys. "Have you really nothing better to do than torment poor Severus?"

"It's a slow day, Evans," Potter smirked smugly. "What can we say?"

"Plus, Snivilly was just asking for it, weren't ya Greasy?" Black grinned, nudging Sev, who suddenly lunged for him, but was held back by Lily.

Potter, Black, and Pettigrew all barked with laughter. I just sat there, watching, hugging my knees to my chest. I wanted them to leave. Lily wanted them to leave. Sev wanted them to leave. They were unwanted, it wasn't fair that they could just come in and torment people like that. There should have been someone of a higher authority to come in and break it up.

I looked over once again at Lupin.

"Stop them." I told him.

"Excuse me?"

"Stop them." I repeated, looking over at the laughing boys and my red-faced brother. "You're not a very good Prefect."

"Your brother and Lily are Prefects as well." he reminded me.

"Yes, but, you're their friend. If you intervened, maybe they would stop."

He looked away, to ignore me too, just as he did the fighting.

"You're not a very good friend, either."

"And you'd know all about friends, wouldn't you?"

Pettigrew seemed to be eavesdropping on the conversation, and everyone turned to look at he and I. I blinked, staring at him. He grinned rather wide, then looked to Potter and Black for approval before continuing.

"Lecturing others on being good friends, well you haven't any yourself."

"Don't you talk to my sister like that, you bloody rat!"

I smiled, despite the insult. He was wrong. "I do have friends." I said simply. "I have Sev and Lily."

"Yes, Peter," Lily glared at him too. "She has Sev and I."

He rolled his eyes. "No friends of her own!"

I stared. That didn't make any sense. Sev and Lily were my friends, my own friends, how could they not be friends of my own? There had to be a reason why he didn't join in on ridiculing my brother, they mustn't have let him because he was so dim-witted.

"She hangs out with her brother and her brother's friend. Can't make any friends on your own, can you?"

"Damn it, Pettigrew," Sev pulled out his wand, but Potter tackled him against the seat. I just stared.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, still not quite getting what he meant. "You're not smart enough for me to understand."

Black snorted, and I looked at him wide-eyed before sinking back into my corner. He seemed to grin at me, but I looked away to my brother and Potter sort of wrestling over on the seat across from where I sat. Black hit Potter lightly on the back and gestured to leave.

And they left.

Sev sat fixing himself, and Lily helped him, while I just sat in the corner of my seat. They both looked at me, but I sat quietly looking at my untied laces, then blinked as Lily took a seat beside me.

"Sev and I are your friends." she told me. "Don't think on what that jerk was saying."

"I wasn't," I admitted. "I think we should get changed soon."

oXo

Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, I kicked my feet and ignored the introduction ceremony for all the new First Years. A few new students got placed into Ravenclaw, and everyone clapped, cheered, and welcomed them, while I sat staring at my empty gold plate, nice and quiet. I had been quiet ever since the fight with Black and his mates, but I couldn't quite understand why I was being so quiet.

Maybe what Pettigrew said, somewhere deep down did affect me. But I don't think that was right. Because it didn't bother me at all. It shouldn't bother me at all to begin with. He was immature and not so bright, and what he said meant nothing. What any of those four said meant nothing. What they laughed and smiled at meant even less.

For some reason though, every so often I would glance over at the Gryffindor table. Glance from Lily to the four boys, then I'd turn to look over at Sev to even things out. He caught my glance and have me a crooked smile, I returned the smile and looked back down at my empty plate. My eyes kept wondering up back to them.

I don't know why though. They made Sev mad and upset, and I disliked anyone who made my Sev mad and upset. They bullied him constantly, I caught it on school grounds, as well as how it was on the train. They didn't stop, and their hatred for him seemed irrational. It wasn't fair. Everyone adored them, and they were just mean...baby-ish...bully...jerks.

Professor Dumbledore stood in front of the Great Hall, looked at everyone, and gave his welcoming speech. It was the same every year, so I tended to block him out. It wasn't nice of me, and I respected Professor Dumbledore greatly, but I couldn't bring myself to listen anymore, especially not while I was conflicted.

"Ophelia," someone whispered to me.

I looked up to see Shawn Miller looking back down at me. He was two years ahead of me, a year a head of Sev, and had strawberry blond hair that fell in his freckled face. I smiled at him.

"Father told me to ask in advance," he started. "But, er, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me next month?"

I nodded, then looked over as all the plates began to pile up with copious amounts of delicious foods, better food than we could afford back at home.

"Great," Shawn said out loud, grinning, as the whole hall grew in an uproar of yells and chatter. "Don't forget, alright?"

I nodded again, smiling. See, Pettigrew, I did very well have friends of my own.

Shawn and I talked for the rest of the evening, he was Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, so he chatted a lot about Quidditch. I enjoyed listening to him babble about it, even though Quidditch wasn't a passion, I did enjoy it. His enthusiasm was brilliant too. When we weren't talking about Quidditch though, we were exchanging talk about our friends, and who we hung out with. I could talk for hours about Sev and Lily, and I did talk a lot about them.

"You really love your brother, huh?"

"I do," I said, poking at the macaroni on my plate and took a forkfull in my mouth. "He's my best friend."

Talking to Shawn was a good distraction, I forgot all about glancing over at the four Gryffindor boys, until it was time to leave. I stood, chatting with Shawn, and glanced over in their general direction, catching Black's grey eyes. He looked at me, and I looked back, only half-heartedly listening to what Shawn was saying now. Black winked, I gasped and looked away. Only to sneak one final look while he wasn't looking.

That didn't make sense. Black hated Sev and his family. I was Sev's family. Why would he wink at me? Grin at me? It was just weird. I wouldn't think too much on it though, there was no need, I was sure.

Smiling more, I followed Shawn and the other Ravenclaws up to the Common Room, ready for my first night back in the castle, in my four-poster bed, and the enchanted star-clad ceiling.

Although I missed my mum and dad, it was very nice to finally be back.


End file.
